Save the Rain program in Syracuse also will reach the suburbs

Onondaga County has launched a new edition of its award-winning Save the Rain program. This time, it’s saving suburban rain.

The county last week announced projects in a dozen suburban communities to reduce the leakage of rainwater into the county sewer system. They will receive a total of $3 million from the county.

The projects range from the installation of porous pavement in Clay to the distribution of 25 rain barrels in the village of Manlius. In total, 12 villages and towns will get money.

Until now, the county’s Save the Rain project has been limited to the county’s court-ordered efforts to restrict sewage overflows into Onondaga Lake. This year, that has meant the implementation of 50 “green infrastructure” projects within Syracuse to reduce rainwater runoff into the city’s aging sewer system, which in most areas of the city is combined with its street drains.

Among the projects completed last year was the installation of a 60,000-square-foot system for collecting rainwater runoff from the roof of the county convention center.

During heavy rainstorms, sewers in the city become overloaded, requiring the release of untreated sewage into Onondaga Lake to prevent backups of raw sewage into streets and homes.

County Executive Joanie Mahoney launched Save the Rain as an alternative to building four new sewage treatment facilities in the city. By the end of the year, the program will be almost half-way to achieving compliance with a federal court order that requires the county to capture 250 million gallons of storm water a year through the use of “green infrastructure.”

The county is spending $80 million on the city version of Save the Rain, $20 million less than what it would have cost to build regional treatment facilities, said Matt Millea, deputy county executive for physical services.

Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency named Onondaga County and Syracuse one of the country’s top 10 leaders in green infrastructure, thanks to the Save the Rain program.

The program has proven to be so popular that suburban county legislators asked to be included. Mahoney last year proposed spending $1.2 million on suburban projects. The Legislature increased that to $3 million.

Mahoney said the suburban projects will not take money from the city projects. The city version of the program is coming in under budget, so money is available to fund both the suburban projects and all of the city projects necessary to meet the court order, she said.

She said the suburban projects will reduce rainwater infiltration into aging and often leaky sewer pipes in the suburbs. They will not affect the flow of sewage into Onondaga Lake, but they will help prevent sewage backups and flooding in the suburban communities, she said.